Esports fans are so toxic that Faker and Gumayusi are taking legal action

Esports is stuffed with passionate followers and gamers, so that you’re sure to return throughout heated debates and pissed off takes. In South Korea, the place League of Legends esports is much more mainstream, that toxicity has change into an excessive amount of for FANABLE, the company that represents Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong.

A little bit of criticism is anticipated when video games don’t go the best way followers hoped. However there was a rise in harassment in direction of T1, Hanwha Life Esports, and different standard groups. Now, FANABLE is taking authorized motion towards esports followers who make malicious and defamatory statements about its gamers.

“Just lately, in some communities, malicious posts, distribution, and defamation concentrating on our gamers have continued to escalate past acceptable ranges, typically with none effort at self-restraint. Consequently, we’ve got reached the conclusion that it’s now not doable to miss these actions,” FANABLE mentioned.

“Accordingly, we’ll actively assessment and proceed with all doable measures, together with each civil and felony authorized actions, in response to such conduct.”

Faker, Gumayusi, and different standard gamers are sometimes the targets of passionate followers who lash out when the crew doesn’t carry out effectively. But it surely has gone far past simply abusive posts on-line. Followers have despatched funeral flowers to T1 headquarters to protest after a foul efficiency. A 12 months in the past, League of Legends gamers in South Korea paid to have billboards protesting towards Gumayusi, who was enjoying for T1 on the time.

“Those that have been antagonistically harassing Gumayusi, stalking his household and others, have now raised 1000’s of {dollars} to fund billboard protests and cellular LED advertisements within the coronary heart of Seoul to torment him additional,” said one fan on Reddit.

By this time, followers have been demanding that T1 do one thing to guard its gamers.

“There was an enormous quantity of hate feedback on the membership after Guma’s benching,” one other fan famous. “They even mass-reported any tweets supporting Guma and even mentioning him to get them eliminated. T1 did nothing about this for weeks. I’ve no hope that they are going to do something about this both.”

T1 by no means stepped up. However now FANABLE has.

Nonetheless, it raises questions concerning the conduct of esports followers. It’s all the time been a really meme-heavy group of passionate individuals who love debates and s*** speaking. It’s an enormous a part of the tradition, with esports organizations themselves participating within the chaos. G2 Esports employed a airplane to fly a banner studying “F*** SENTINELS” across the time of a significant VALORANT rivalry.

And that kinda stuff is humorous. It’s the eagerness and grit of the esports neighborhood and gamers that make it a particular scene. I typically speak concerning the broke-ness of the FGC, the way it’s simply gamers’ pure need to grind and compete that retains all of it going. It’s what makes esports fascinating and real.

However that keenness can manifest in poisonous methods when left unchecked. It’s okay to really feel upset. It’s okay to debate what went improper in a sport. However saying hateful issues in direction of a participant, wishing them hurt, discovering their tackle, and placing up billboards mocking them… That’s not simply ardour, that’s harassment and abuse. It’s now not a joke.

I’m glad that FANABLE has stepped in. Riot, T1, and different entities have been silent for years as dying threats continued. Democratic Occasion of Korea lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi demanded action against cyberbullying in November 2025, calling on Riot and different concerned esports leaders. That’s how dangerous it bought.

“Cheering for a crew can by no means be used as a justification for singling out a selected participant for abuse,” Jeon mentioned.

It’s unclear who is really at fault for letting it proceed, but it surely’s a aid to see somebody trying to guard the gamers. Nonetheless, why are y’all threatening a participant’s household over a sport loss? Take a breath. Play a comfy sport. Meditate. Eat a Faker ice cream. It’s not price it.